Push ups are messing up my arm?

PvTPorcupine

Hi all. I figured this is the closest forum section to post my topic in so here goes: Oh btw this is a long story, sorry. Oh it should also be noted that this is all happening in my dominant arm.

I have very little upper body strength. For what I lack up top I make up for with my legs as I usually run at least 4 miles a day.
I had recently enlisted in the Army and am set to ship out to OSUT within the next two or so weeks. To prepare for this I decided I really needed to work on my upper body. I first started doing curls with really light weights. I'm not sure what I did but that ended up with me messing up my armpit somehow. When I'd lift my arms high above my head I'd get this sudden tearing sensation in my armpit. I relaxed and took it easy and now that problem is gone; however, ever since then my arm has been feeling much heavier than usual. So a few weeks after that I started doing push ups and this is what really messed me up. I started off not being able to do 4 but quickly worked my way up to 15-20. Feeling like a god I started doing them every day, not taking any days off. prior to going push up crazy I had started some push up workout where I do 5 sets 20 reps (doing as many in proper form and then doing half push ups for the rest) and rest 5 minutes in between each set. I'd done this workout twice before, but the culmination of my constant push ups and little rest came to bite me in the butt this time. I had made it to 60 or so push ups and started noticing a dull pain almost like someone was putting a lot of pressure on a nerve or something coming from just above the rear of my elbow. By push up 80 the pain was too much and I couldn't go on. Upon investigating my arm I noticed there seems to be a string (not sure if its a tendon or a nerve) that runs where the pain is, and it was and still kind of is extremely sensitive to the touch. I took two weeks off hardly doing any push ups and felt all better again. So I'm back to doing just 20 push ups every morning, afternoon, and evening. Go figure this pain always seems to come back the next day, its not extreme but its very uncomfortable and usually takes two days to go away, its around the area I highlighted in the picture. My dads friend says it sounds like tendonitis. Is that what it could be? If yall could offer any advice it would be much appreciated as during my run today I noticed the dull pain near the "string" became a very sharp stabbing pain that seemed to turn on and off every few milliseconds.

This is where the pain currently is- this is also where that string (tendon, nerve, w/e) seems to be.


This is where that tearing sensation was that happened a while back which was the start of m arm problems.


It would appear that I cannot post images in the topic, so if you'd be so kind as to copy and pate the links into your browser that would be awesome.

This is where the pain currently is- this is also where that string (tendon, nerve, w/e) seems to be.
http://i.imgur.com/KNLRMSj.jpg

This is where that tearing sensation was that happened a while back which was the start of m arm problems.
http://i.imgur.com/MhGSM6v.jpg

slb573

First congrats on joining the service. Second I'd recommend getting your armed checked by a professional before being shipped off to OSUT, if you are found to have something during your medical your out, and you will not be given a chance to recover from what ever could be.
My husband and his buddies are all told to just do 2 minutes full out of push ups as many as you can and don't stop. Thats how your going to be tested and judged. And add 2 minutes of non stop planks.

What style push up are you doing by the way?

PvTPorcupine

First congrats on joining the service. Second I'd recommend getting your armed checked by a professional before being shipped off to OSUT, if you are found to have something during your medical your out, and you will not be given a chance to recover from what ever could be.
My husband and his buddies are all told to just do 2 minutes full out of push ups as many as you can and don't stop. Thats how your going to be tested and judged. And add 2 minutes of non stop planks.

What style push up are you doing by the way?

Thanks for the reply. I've already passed my fitness test and medical examination. I'm sorry but I'm not going to see a doctor, anything like that could and probably would end up delaying or canceling my enlistment. I was told by my medic friend that they see tendonitis a lot during BCT/OSUT and they'd just put me on light duty for a week or so. I've also heard of people getting something similar to shin splints in their elbows if they're not used to working them. As for the push ups, I've been doing your standard military push up, though its possible that I started sucking at my form during the last few push ups (when the pain started occurring) as I was very very tired. My father told me the other day I need to work on bringing my arms in towards my body more, I guess they flare out a bit. I'm hoping it was just overuse and bad form that caused my problem and some more rest will fix it. As of now I'm not doing anymore push ups until I ship out for OSUT.